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Banjul is a city that tempts with a sense of history that the plush seaside resorts lack, and is home to a busy harbor and market that show urban Africa at its best. It sits on an island and, crossed by sand-blown streets and dotted with fading colonial structures. It's also the least-populated capital on the African mainland.
These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout Banjul.
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Since its founding in the mid-19th century, the Albert Market, an area of frenzied buying, bartering and bargaining, has been Banjul's main hub of activity. This cacophony of Banjul life is intoxicating, with its stalls stacked with shimmering fabrics, hair extensions, shoes, household and electrical wares and the myriad colours and flavours of the fruit and vegetable market.
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West from the ferry terminal towards the wide Ma Cumba Jallow St (Dobson St) is a chaotic assembly of decrepit colonial buildings and Krio-style clapboard houses (steep-roofed structures with wrought-iron balconies and corrugated roofs). It's no coincidence they resemble the inner-city architecture of Freetown in Sierra Leone, as many of them still belong to families who came to Banjul from Freetown, some as early as the 1820s.
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This massive 36m-high gateway, built to celebrate the military coup of 22 July 1994, grants excellent views. There's also a cafe and a small museum that enlightens visitors about the coup d'état and houses a few ethnographic exhibitions.
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Well-presented, if slightly dusty, displays of historical and cultural artefacts, including musical instruments, agricultural tools and ethnographic items. There's an interesting archaeological section reconstructing some of the earliest periods of human habitation of the region, and a history floor with photographs that lead up to the present.
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Tucked away inside an ancient Portuguese building, this centre has provided training to disadvantaged women for the last 20 years. Visitors can take a free tour of sewing, crafts and tie-dye classes, and purchase reasonably priced items such as patchwork products, embroidered purses and cute children's clothes at the on-site boutique.
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The quadrangular July 22 Square contains a World War I memorial and a fountain dating from the 1930s.